The Coolest: A SoMa Fanfiction
by AnonymousOwl-chan
Summary: Witches and demons live in the pits of darkness. Fear, anger, disgust, and other primitive negative feelings live within our blood. Yet, the world is a seesaw, a great scale. For every evil, there is a good, for every tear shed, there is a smile. Amidst this battle, what is the path that Maka Albarn and Soul Evans will take? [SoMa] [Light Swearing] [Minor Violence]
1. Chapter 1: The 'Coolest'

Hey there readers!

This fanfic is based on a continuation of the anime of _Soul Eater,_ with an additional few elements from the manga and _Soul Eater Not!_. However, since there are few and each will be explained, there is not cause to worry if you have not read the manga or watched the _Not!_. I am extremely sorry if you are offended by my dislike of the new characters from the _Not!_ anime/manga! I'm known for liking original characters better.

Reminder: I do NOT own any of the characters, setting, plot, ect. from the _Soul Eater_ anime/manga, or the _Soul Eater Not!_. If I did, Soul and Maka would be a couple from episode one. And there would be ice-cream everywhere. I am not ashamed of my love for ice-cream.

/./

A version of this story is also available on Wattpad and Quotev.

story/9428532/The-Coolest-A-SoMa-Fanfiction

story/106537757-the-coolest-a-soma-fanfiction

Here's the first chapter of 'The Coolest'! Enjoy:

WARNING: High probability of SPOILERS and/or SPELLING ERRORS ahead.

A concoction of white, fairy blue, baby pink, gold, and ash blonde flashed past dark haired purple eyed Tsugumi Halberd, running speedily up the seemingly never-ending flights of stairs that lead to the famous DWMA (Tsugumi is a character from the _Not!_ Series) Closely following her was the newest Death Scythe of the academy, done up in the same white as his hair. Catching the pigtailed girl's signature bright smile as she sped through, Tsugumi wondered if she'll ever catch up to the two of them as she sighed wearily at the long 'daily exercise' in front of her. 'Very unlikely _',_ she thought, 'I'm not even as good as Courage when she's sleeping! Oh well, worth the thought at least.'

This 'Courage' was, in actuality, the all-famous meister Maka Albarn. Earning her nickname after the defeat of Kishin Ashura, the meister had joined the advanced two star class—Spartoi. Every single starred student that had significant achievements in the war against Arachnophobia had received an automatic promotion to two star. Soul 'Eater' Evans, Maka's partner, was blessed with becoming a Death Scythe shortly after the war—Maka had dealt a one-hit defeat to Eruka after she finished the rest of Arachnophobia's army, successfully reaching 99 kishin egg souls and one witch soul. Soul's new form was that of a black and red scythe lined with gold and a much keener shine. As a result of his new power up, Maka, through their resonance, had also boosted her speed and attack power. It was a very sweet victory indeed.

Unfortunately, the Mizunes that once served the late Medusa escaped after putting on soul protect and transforming into mice. However, aside from that, all was well with the aftermath. All was well…right?

Not for Soul! Due to him being a Death Scythe and Maka being an advanced meister, the pair were the only ones promoted to three-star after the war. Seems like jolly news, right? Noooooooo, not for Mr. Evans! The boost in star rating means more classes as the duo were only students and quite young for their rating, they had to take additional classes along with the Spartoi training. Soul was not enjoying those, to say the least. Maka, on the other hand, was more than happy to say the least. 'Courage' now had more books to hit and hit with—one of her most loved objects.

Currently, Maka waved behind her and shouted a clear, "You can do it!" towards the poor, sun-baked Tsugumi before speeding off for class, tailed by Soul. The Sun roared with cheerful laughter as its orange rays hit the famed pair before they entered into the academy. "Why does this thing exist?!" wailed Tsugumi to the sky before she restarted her sluggish crawl up.

Inside the school building, Maka and Soul received many stares—specifically at the stars adorning their outfits. Due to their achievements, Lord Death had granted them a badge of three stars, made by his revived friend Eibon himself, that the duo gracefully accepted and proudly pinned to themselves…both on their left shoulders, right above the Spartoi logos. Whispers spread throughout the halls as people recognized the badge from Lord Death's congratulations ceremony held a few days back. Not like Maka and Soul were complaining though, they could certainly get used to this and they took pride in their achievements.

"Hurry up Soul! You're going to make us late for class AGAIN!"

"Tsk. Not like there's anyone else in that stupid class except us."

"MAKA CHOP!"

"OW! Why are you so violent?!"

"Well you're no better, idiotic slacker! If you don't like our classes, you could go talk to Lord Death and I'm sure he'll give you a _much_ worse chop!"

"Violent people are so…uncool…"

"MAKA CHOP!"

By the time the two had arrived in their special training room, Soul had two very large bumps on his head which stood out from his spikes hair like a sore thumb. Professor Stein was not impressed, however.

"So you've finally decided to show up?"

"We're sorry Professor, this idiot here decided to slow us down."

"You're the idiot here!"

"Well it doesn't matter now. You two are still late, no matter the reason. At least you showed up though. Let's begin the lesson. As you know, although Lord Death did congratulate your victories with the ranking of a three-star meister, the two of you are fledgelings in this level. Maka, for one, does not yet know how to use soul menace at the moment. That, in fact, will be the first thing we'll be working on. Follow me, students."

"Yes, Professor."

"Fine."

The Professor rolled outside, in his ever present chair, followed by a confident Maka dragging an unwilling Soul behind her. They soon entered training grounds, where trees arched above them and the path was trodden smooth by many students before them. Maka recognized it as the place she, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, and Patty trained seemingly so long ago. Then, she was hit with the sudden realization that it wasn't long ago at all. Yet, so much had changes that she hardly had time to make sure this was not just one of her crazy dreams where she turns Soul into a Death Scythe and wakes up…before falling from either a bed or a chair or even a sofa and hitting the cold, unwelcoming floor.

As soon as the trio arrived in a suitable clearing, Maka was brought out of her thoughts as Professor Stein requested, "Now, Maka, I want you to watch me perform Soul Menace, then you'll try it on me, understood?"

"Yes, Professor!"  
"Hey why not me? I'm her partner y'know."

"Because, Soul, we have next to no idea, even with soul perception, how strong her attack is on her first try. She can't control it until she knows how to use it, so it's best for Maka to try it on me so I can repel it before it damages anyone."

"That's so not cool…"

"Are there any adjectives in your vocabulary that doesn't consist of cool?"

"Yeah. Wait…maybe?"

The girl with olive green eyes sighed. She was following in her mother's footsteps, alright. Turning good-for-nothing idiots into proud Death Scythes.

Maka focused her attention back on Professor Stein, who placed his palm on a tree and shot what looked eerily like buzzing, yellow electricity through it. And BOOM. Bye bye, tree! Thou hast lived a noble life.

"Wait, can't Maka use her menace on a tree first?"

"No. Soul Menace has two natures. The first is common to all users: a simple wavelength that attacks the target directly. However, the secondary nature is more complex. Usually, it is also an attack based skill, such as my wavelength stitches, but there are extremely rare cases where the skill is not simply physical at all. If Maka uses her menace the first time on a tree, we might not see her secondary nature as it might be one of the rare cases."

"Well, she better be, 'cause that's cool."

"Professor, what's Black Star's secondary nature then?"

"I don't believe his is a more powerful version of the first nature—a straightforward yet strong attack, suitable to his nature, I must say."

By this time, Maka had finished furiously scratching down notes on the topic, attempting to not miss any details so that she can review for the midterms. Well…maybe she was copying them do diligently because she knew Soul wasn't paying attention and would soon need her notes to remind himself…not like she'll ever admit that though.

"Hey Soul," Maka said, "hold this for me?"

Soul would have not accepted in his current mood towards Maka, but her expression was just too damn cute for him to bear. The way her lips rose into a smile and the gentle emotions swirling in her eyes made his face tinge in a rosy color. He would never, though, admit that he was blushing.

"Everything ok?"  
"Y-Yeah."

"Don't drop it then!"

Professor Stein waited patiently for Maka to summon her soul wavelength. He was also observing her through Soul Perception, and he could tell that a tendon of blue, stemming from Maka's soul, was awfully close to being shot out of her right arm. But it also regrettably small…maybe the size of a thread.

'Seems like Soul Menace isn't one of Maka's best abilities, then.' he thought to himself.

But the Professor was wrong about his student, for once in his life. Unfortunately, Soul could not warn his teacher of what lied ahead before it happened. At the last possible moment before Maka could use her menace, he felt something through their connection. Some strange wavelength burst forth from Maka's end, some form of controlling matter, or rather, something dominating. Some wavelength that excited the fear within you and forced free will to its very knees. Her face scrunched up in concentration, focusing on releasing her first Soul Menace.

"Prof—"

Startled, the professor only had time to turn hushed towards Soul before blue energy shot out from Maka's hand, and covered first Stein then Soul. For a moment, both slumped forward, losing control over every possible aspect of their physical body, and felt as if they were suspended in a halo version of the real world…a less defined branch of space/time. Fear in its most primitive form loomed above them like a sky stained with ink, and the property seized their hearts with fingers they could not pry open. And thus, they lost one of mankind's greatest gifts—free will—to the terror that resonated from the being at the dead centre of the pseudo world: Maka Albarn. Only she herself was not affected, being enshrouded in a bubble of her own soul. Maka's soul resembled that of a blue sphere with pigtails, a gentle smile, and a huge pair of wings that twitched uncannily, almost as if it craved flight yet was regrettably chained to the ground like a hound chained to his master's biddings.

But the terrifying moment did not last more than ten seconds, that is, ten petrifying seconds Soul Evans and Franken Stein would rather not experience again in their lives.

As the two dropped to the ground, trying to regain their much needed breaths and re-familiarizing themselves with their nerves, Maka collapsed with sparks of blue electricity flickering across her body. She let loose a pained whimper, which caught the attention of Soul who immediately rushed over to check on her.

"Maka! Hey, what happened?! Are you alright?" shouted Soul with Maka in his lap, holding her quivering body tenderly to his chest.

"I-I dunno…I…hah…be awright…"she whispered incoherently, pain evident on her face as she gasped and wheezed with a strained voice. Maka's hand tightened around Soul's sweater and twisted it in an attempt to subdue the pain that rippled across her body and soul, but with no avail. Soon she lost energy and simply resorted to being cradled by Soul.

"Hah…mwaybe…overdone…it?"

"You idiot! Why can't you stay safe for once?

"Professor Stein," Soul turned, "Can you help her?"

"Sorry, kid. Can't help her in this one. Her pain is caused by an overload of hyper concentrated soul wavelength…if I use my own wavelength to help, she'd only get worse. Not to worry though, she'll only be paralyzed for a day or two after this. For now, it's best to knock her unconscious and let her sleep through the pain."

The professor used his chair, which had tipped over after being frozen in that strange, unnerving dimension, to rise from the ground. Once he had, he walked over to the stressed weapon and took the meister from his unwilling arms. With one blow to the nape, Maka Albarn was rendered unconscious. Soon her expression softened and Soul's wavelength calmed down a tad bit.

"Let's carry her to the infirmary."

Soul nodded and slowly trailed behind the rolling professor-in-a-chair, carrying a limp meister in his hands. He didn't like it one bit…it was his duty to protect Maka yet he had let her technique spin out of control when she was right there in front of him. He felt disgusted with himself. His precious, little Maka was always to brave, she was always standing in the face of danger and risking her life for someone else, when she could just be lying back home on her sofa, enjoying her day. She has all the options in the world, yet she decides to train dangerous techniques in the DWMA, where her own weapon can't even protect her half of the god damn time.

"Fuck. I'm such a god-damn wimp," Soul muttered under his breath as he stared at the girl cradled in his arms.

Professor Stein heard the foul language that Soul spouted, but he decided to leave that alone. However, he did comment on the lack of self-confidence.

"It wasn't your fault. I could not even move a muscle in that state she put me in."

Soul sighed. One day, he would figure out why he was so attentive to every little move made by innocent little Maka, even if she's as flat as a board and was virtually a straight A book worm. He would understand, that day, why he was so stressed about her every little injury. Surely, that day would come.

But, it was not today. Today, Soul Evans will tend to his meister. Some day, Soul Evans will learn to grasp his feelings.

At the DWMA's infirmary, there was a nurse named Mira Nygus. Her appearance was that of a dark skinned woman with sharp blue eyes, dark hair, and clad in bandages and a nurse's uniform. Currently, she was staring at her computer, wondering what she should fill in for her medical report on the student Maka Albarn.

The screen read:

SUMMARY OF DEFECTS AND DIAGNOSIS (Please fill) :

Nygus didn't know how to answer that. When it came to her reports, she tended to be specific. Sure, Maka Albarn had an overload of soul wavelengths that caused her system to go nuts, but why was it her _own wavelength_ that caused that? Nygus wouldn't have been surprised if some student overused Soul Menace on another, but she had no idea why it was Maka's own soul wavelength that caused this.

But then again, Professor Stein's students seemed to be coming down with odd afflictions lately…she had one boy who was sent to the infirmary to rest up after his right toe and left toe were surgically swapped for the other.

 _Perhaps_ , Nygus thought to herself, _I should report this to Lord Death?_

Sighing, the nurse slumped in her chair and began playing idly with a loose bandage.

In a room not far from Nygus's office lay a girl with ash-blonde hair and olive-green eyes who had a lively bunch of visitors over. One, an albino weapon, was attempting to feed her some food.

"Aahhh," said Soul as he pushed the spoonful in front Maka's mouth.

"Soul, I'm not a baby!"

"Well, you're not. But, you are paralyzed."

Reluctantly, Maka opened her mouth and allowed the food inside.

"YAHOOO! Big stars like me don't get paralyzed twice. Future gods never misuse their Soul Menace!"

"Now, Black Star, you're stepping on Maka's bed…" smiled Tsubaki.

"But I've gotta say girl, what is it with you and paralysis?" asked Liz as she examined her fingernails.

"I don't really know why this keeps happening myself," Maka pouted.

"Giraffes! Giraffe~ Giraffe~ WATCH OUT GIRAFFE 'CAUSE IMMA BREAK YOUR NECK!"

"Finally! I'm done arranging ALL the medicine bottles into PERFECT symmetry! Oh symmetry, how beautiful thou art!"

"Yeah, only Kid would bother about something like that," mumbled Soul, after feeding Maka another spoonful.

The group of friends sweat dropped, turning their heads towards Kid with his infamous obsession with symmetry. A dream-like expression was plastered on his face as he stared at his work of perfectly symmetrical medicine bottles. A moment later, he was not so pleased with the bottles when he discovered, to his horror, that one of the bottles to the right had a yellow label as opposed its mirror on the left, which had a red label. Death the Kid promptly fainted after crying miserably about his incompetence and asymmetrical filth.

After the lively party had left, Soul and Maka were left to themselves in the room.

"Well then, I'll be going too Maka. Cya around."

"Bye Soul!"

However, as Soul opened the door, Maka found the undeniable urge to ask a strange question.

"Soul."

"Yeah?"

"Do you…blame yourself?"

Evans was hit with the realization that he might have showed his depression to sweet little Maka, his one and only meister.

"Maybe."

"Don't. That's not cool. It's not your fault."

Maka smiled cheerfully at her albino partner, ash-blonde pigtails swaying in the breeze coming the open window.

Soul found himself swayed by Maka's innocent smile, exactly like her pigtails in the wind. Color rose to his cheeks as he replied:

"Yeah. That's not cool."

Maka giggled.

"But you're cool. We're cool, right?"

"Yeah, we're…" Soul lifted his head.

"The coolest?"

"The coolest."

Shark teeth and olive-green eyes glittered in the light from the setting sun, who boomed its laughter across Death City.

(2,903)

A/N: As this is my first fanfic, any suggestions for improvement are appreciated! Please feel free to comment down below :3

~Owl-chan


	2. Chapter 2: The 'Musical'

Heya, readers!

Here's chapter two, ready for y'all!

[Insert disclaimer from prev. chapter, because y'know what? I'm just too gosh darn lazy.]

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"The Coolest"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lord Death had a very interesting office. One of most peculiar elements of the Death Room was the numerous graves that surrounded the mirror platform. This was what Professor Stein, famous for his skills and infamous for his love for dissection, was staring at as he spoke with Lord Death. He wasn't looking at the head of the DWMA while he talked, he was looking behind him, at the graves. Stein counted them in his head, 1. 2. 3. He wondered something.

"Seems like we have quite a treat, Death."

"Oh yes? Wonderful!"

4\. 5. 6.

Someday.

"Maka. Her secondary nature, it's Puppeteer."

"A rare one!"

7\. 8. 9.

Someday, the fear that gripped him half an hour ago…

"Yeah. A rare one alright."

"And how's Maka?"

Stein took a whiff from his cigarette.

10\. 11. 12.

…will materialize.

"She's paralyzed after overdoing it. But she'll be fine."

"Good to hear!"

13\. 14.

The white smoke twirled and spun upwards.

Someday, Stein knew he would die. His spirit would follow the smoke into the sky, and his soul? Well, it'll be whisked away by Lord Death.

15 did not exist. Stein couldn't see that far. Ironic, isn't it?

"Soul, resonate with Maka."

"Professor, are you sure this won't end up like last time?"

"Yes. I'm certain."

To be honest with himself, Professor Stein wasn't sure at all if resonance would help Maka control her Soul Menace. It was a theory, but there were no other paths that the two could take if they wanted to develop Maka's menace. For all he knew, this could end up worse.

Maka readied herself before passing soul wavelengths to Soul, who sent it back, magnified.

"Let's go: SOUL RESONANCE!"

"The legendary super-skill of the Scythe Master! WITCH HUNTER!"

"Don't stop now! I want to see MORE! Show me what you got!" Shouted Stein with a wicked smile of approval.

Maka yelled with effort as the the resonance rate increased exponentially. Soul roared similarly from his weapon form.

The already magnificent witch hunter exploded with power as it doubled in size, edge keener than the finest sword.

"GENIE HUNTER!"

The professor laughed, feeling the extent of his student's power. His expression was almost mad.

However, the resonance rate did not halt there. It kept being boosted as Maka and Soul sent their wavelengths back and forth, magnifying it until they reached a turning point. The strain in the surrounding air skyrocketed as the ultimate technique burst forth from its glowing shell.

"The ultimate super-skill of the Scythe Master: KISHIN HUNTER!"

The technique was terrifying. If one stared at the radiance of the blade long enough, one'd go nuts. If any evil happened to touch the blade, it would disappear like smoke to the wind.

Stein grinned. Many would call his expression mad if they did not know the professor's natural love for experimentation.

"NOW, Maka!" Stein yelled, "Use you menace now!"

Concentration written across her face, Maka found the same power she used yesterday. To her, and consequently to Soul also due to their resonance, she found an extravagant room with a light and almost childish theme. If only she couldn't see past the lies, though. A heavy and unwelcoming miasma floated around the room, lingering in the shadows and stalking Maka's every move. If she could use one word to describe it, it would be dominating.

"Yo, Maka."

The meister lifted her head as she watched a baby blue curtain rose in defiance to gravity. It was not present before, and it disappeared soon after Soul stepped through. But Maka caught a glimpse of what lay beyond her world, aka this room. It looked cozy alright, and had a darker theme with some sort of jazz being played.

"Hey Soul."

"This is your mind right now, eh?"

"I guess. I don't like it though."

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

"Look, Soul. Over there," pointed Maka.

Her index finger stretched towards the shadow of an armchair that was standing in a corner. Anyone could see the dark red mass lingering within the folds of the rich shadow.

"Oh, that thing?"

"Yeah."

"Might as well check it out, right? No use sitting here doing nothing."

"I guess…as long it doesn't kill us though."

"C'mon, Maka. My partner's cooler than that. Besides, it _is_ your mind, so it's unlikely anything in here will kill us, right?"

Maka didn't answer that.

Soul grinned. The weapon embraced his uneasy meister from behind.

"It'll be alright, Maka. If anything happened, I'll be there for you, ok? I swear, I'll protect you from whatever that is, k?"

Maka felt the warmth emitted from her partner, succumbing to his embrace. After her eyes regained their light, she made a decision.

"Let's go, Soul," she smirked.

Without warning, Maka took hold of Soul's hand and sprinted towards the shadowy mass. The two vanished, leaving the sunny room to itself, undisturbed.

"Soul!"

"Maka?!"

In the pitch darkness, the two madly felt around for each other. When at last Soul had managed to catch Maka's arm, both of them let out a long awaited sigh of relief. After a while, Soul decided to ask the inevitable.

"So, uh…where are we?"

"I've been here last time. Yesterday."

"Cool. So, where should we go?"

"Well…does it look like I have an idea?"

Soul sweat dropped at his partner. However, their humorous moment did not last long, for Soul suddenly had an uncanny feeling that something was lurking where their sights did not reach.

"What?! It's not my fault you know! Yesterday it was also pitch dark in here, so I just felt around and did basically nothing—"

"Shh! Do you feel that?!"

Maka was surprised at the sudden outburst, but soon afterwards she began peer into their dark surroundings. It wasn't long before she, too, noticed the unusual presence. Instinctively, her hand tightened around her weapon's.

"Uhh…Soul what is that?"

"How should I know? It's your mind!"

"Stop saying that! ….MAKA CHOP!"

"OW! What was that for?! It's true you know!"

"I don't know! Just be quiet!"

Maka held Soul in his scythe form and stood in a defensive position. However, a sweet laughter caught her off-guard. The laugh was of a familiar voice, yet as rich as the yellow honey that flowed endlessly from the great oaks of the _Golden Age_ **(A/N: The** ** _Golden Age_** **is a mythological age when there was no crime or sin, and to exist was bliss itself… the honey is a reference from 'Bulfinch's Mythology'. You should check it out: it's a very interesting book!)**.

"Oh hey there!" a joyous voice called out from the darkness.

Maka stiffened, her eyes had trouble seeing beyond her nose, but still she kept looking intently into the shadows as if to spot the 'invisible' laughter.

"Why are you so afraid? I'm not here to hurt you."

"Who the heck are you?" Soul growled.

"And what are your intentions?" Maka demanded, her grip tightening.

"Who am I? Well here I thought that the great Maka Albarn, who is soooo great a student, would know! Haha! You sure got my hopes up there! But you're not as smart as you make yourself seem, eh?" This time, the person, clearly a female, had a laughter that could only be described as silk woven from the finest ingredients.

"But then, I don't want to say that do I? I don't want to call myself stupid now, do I? Whooops! Looks like I made a mistake, didn't I? Confuuuused yet?"

The way this entity dragged out her vowels made her sound childish and immature, but her voice was far from it. It was light, sure, but it was rich with many folds. Each word that dropped out of her mouth was dipped in _something_ that Maka and Soul couldn't quite put their fingers on. Each note echoed in some valley with no bottom that felt as if one was about to disappear into the unknown along with the sound that was originally present if listening too intently.

One moment, Maka felt the girl tapping at her head. The next moment, Soul saw a piece of white material close to his blade before it vanished into the darkness. A second later, Maka saw the glint of a blade so close to her eyes that they widened in absolute terror. She attempted to hit the being with Soul, but she found herself wildly slashing at plain air.

"If you wanna fight us, then let show yourself, damnit! Are you too much of a wimp to do that, you filthy creature?!" yelled an extremely frustrated Soul. For all he knows, his meister, his one and only partner, could be backstabbed any moment and lose her mind to death before he notices. And, to make things worse, if he just up and left with Maka right now, there's not telling what hell would be raised in the meister's mind afterwards.

"Didn't I tell yooouuu? I don't wanna fight you! And," the being traced a finger along Soul's blade and playfully twirling with Maka's ash-blonde hair.

"if I were you, I wouldn't be calling me a 'filthy creature'. Ooooohh not at all! For your see,"

Maka felt herself being embraced from behind. She couldn't move. She was frozen in her spot, out of sheer fear. The honeyed voice sounded musically inside her ears as the other being leaned her head down on Maka's shoulder. But the notes that were played where not beautiful, like Soul's playing was, they were horrid. The meister's voice hitched.

"darling, _I am Maka. I'm your partner! I'm you!_ "

With a gasp, Maka found herself able to move again after the cold, rigid being had left her shoulder. She swung Soul madly behind her.

"THAT'S RIGHT. Let me see a bit of MADNESS!"

Screaming, Maka continued to slash at the nothingness as she slowly lost track of consciousness. To her dismay, she did not strike anything solid.

"Maka! MAKA! Hey! Maka!" Soul shouted frantically.

With as gasp, Maka fell to her knees, dropping the scythe on the ground

Soul turned back into his human form, covering Maka's small, panting form with his own.

"It's fine, it'll be alright. It's ok," he whispered, "You don't have to be afraid!"

Eventually, the meister stopped shivering and calmed down, breathing in the calming scent of Soul's jacket. She dared to look up to his face, and stared straight into the red depth of his eyes with her own innocent olive green. And that's where, and always will be where, Maka took her courage from and used it to stand up once again.

"Sorry for the wait," Maka smirked, her voice resonating with the strength of bother her, and Soul. Evans grinned. This was more like his partner. He morphed into a scythe and flew into his meister's hand.

"But, I'm alright now."

"Hehe! No worriiieeees, dear. But, do you wish to kill me with that scythe of yours? Do you wish to see my crimson blood spilling and my head rolling? Because that would be the equivalent of slaughtering yourself, ne?"

"You can say whatever you damn please, I'm not going to yield to you!"

"Nya? Not gonna yield, are you? Why ever not? I am you, should you not trust in yourself? Girl, you lack self confidence!"

"Stop blabbering, you scum. You make me sick. You're not Maka—-that much I know."

"But what if I am? What can you do about it? I'm simply a better version of your meister there—a more refined version of Maka 1.0. That's it, call me Maka 2.0! Let me show you how much more evolved I am than Maka 1.0. Lights on!"

At once, meister and weapon felt a great shift in their surroundings. And suddenly, as if with a switch, the Sun lit up above them and lit up the mind of 'Maka 2.0'. Both students found themselves surrounded by a great field with grazing animals and a peaceful breeze.

"Beeeeehold! This is my great mind! What do you think now? Do you not see that it is a million folds better than than the current Maka?"

Now in broad daylight, Maka and Soul could clearly see the image of the being, an almost exact copy of Maka, if not for the wicked way her coat twisted into a purple and black piece of bad modern art. There was a wicked grin plastered across her face, which could only be described as madness in person.

"You see this might, it is not hard to achieve if you accept it! If you'd only give in, you'll be able to utilize this strength whenever and wherever you choose!"

'Maka 2.0''s hand waved incoherently at the background framing her as the centerpiece.

"Don't you see? Now, Maka, ACCEPT ME, ACCEPT YOURSELF!"

Maka and Soul, were unwilling. They knew something was up with the whole damn place the moment they caught sight of it. It was, after all, not the fields of joy and prosperity that was inside the mind of this mad girl, but the fields of insanity. The lie, the photoshopped image that momentarily blinded the both of them vanished and dissolved into reality. What appeared in the aftermath was the world of a psychopath, for everything was absurd. The trees grew in the skies, the vegetation was dyed purple, and the flowers kept flickering between poppies and daisies, similar to a small child with trouble making a decision. The cow jumped over a bleeding moon spurting green blood, and the sun never set, preferring to hold hands with the moon with a stretched and twisted arm. The chickens burrowed in the ground like moles, and the snakes hissed in the skies. The pig flew and cried tears that dropped into an ocean that had no bottom. On top of everything, the sky was dyed some form of dark, crimson red, as if all the fairies had bled and stained it.

Maka's eyes widened, and Soul fell to the ground after morphing back into a human.

"You're…You're insane…"

"That's RIGHT! HAHA! AND I'M PART OF YOUUUUU, MAKAAAA DEAR! So you should learn to accept me, accept MADNESS MAKA!"

A tear leaked out of Maka's left eye and and dripped onto the purple grass, and expanded into an endless sea that drowned everything within sight…everything except what was in the horrid sky and the insane girl with wild pigtails. Before Maka slipped into unconsciousness along with Soul, she could still hear the silky, sick sweet voice of 'herself'.

"Why do you cower in fear of causing pain to your partner and those around you because you are weak? Why do you keep despising yourself whenever someone takes a near fatal blow for you? Don't you see that you can escape from all that? By accessing your madness, you can become _stronger!_ You would not need to feel any fear or pain any longer! Please, Maka! I beg of you, for every pain and pang of fear within your heart that you feel becomes my agony, every tear that you shed becomes my river of tears, accept this generous offer! There is no point in remaining in the lame firing range of despair!"

To be honest, Maka had only one idea why.

But, Maka heard Soul's voice, sharp and clear, like the keen edge of a weapon that cut into her consciousness:

"Maka, wake up!"

"Sou…Soul?"

"Yeah."

Olive green eyes flew open and Maka's forehead crashed against something hard as she impatiently sat up.

"Ow! Jeez what the hell Maka?!"

"Whoops…sorry about your head…"

"Well whatever, it's not that bad. Where are we anyway? We got away from that crazy lady but now…"

The meister looked about, but there was nothing there…just a plane of white as far as one could see. But as she stood up, the world rippled and a stage appeared, with a white grand piano smack dab in the centre. Even Kid would have marveled at how carefully it was placed and how it sparkled under the stage light—if not for the fact that pianos weren't symmetrical.

Both meister and weapon never noticed that all this weren't anywhere in sight beforehand, they simply instinctively took off towards the piano, as if in a trance. However, before long, both Soul and Maka ran into a wall that obstructed their view of the stage. With a flourish, a neon-green wall plastered with 'KEEP OUT' tape spontaneously spawned in their faces. The only entrance to what lay beyond it was a simple door with an iron sign on it, oddly colored with rust and hung with a crooked nail. It read:

'Do you seriously think you're ready? You're about to be one step closer.'

"One step closer? To what?" wondered Maka out loud.

"I dunno, we are in your mind. Try to un-think this thing."

"How am I supposed to do that? I'm imagining that wall in the first place."

"Do you think that it's the crazy what's-her-name doing this? That 'Maka 2.0' or whatever? She did say she was you, right?"

Maka stayed silent for a moment, staring at the tiled floor.

"Do you think that she's actually me?" the meister whispered. The question caught the weapon off guard, and he too began to stare ponderously at the ground.

"No. It can't be you. The only time you've been insane is when you were under the influence of _my_ black blood…so you can't be like that now, right?"

Maka's figure went rigid with unease. Although he had said no, the way that Soul had stated it was vague and completely up to the answer—it was, after all, a question. Uncertainly, Maka attempted to think up a key for the door in front of them. It took her at least ten attempts before she was certain it was the right one.

'Forget it, Maka. Whatever. I'm sure that my mind is just messing with you,' she thought to herself, 'Besides, you'll start to worry Soul if you talk about it anymore…and you've already caused him enough trouble.'

Neither teen was aware that this meeting was just a foreshadow for what's to come in the inevitable future that intertwined both of their fates—and souls.

"Hey Maka, why aren't any sounds being played out of this thing?"

"I don't know, I have next to no control over this piano!"

"Great, if it's that annoying chick again, I swear I'm going to tear her stupid grin off the next time I see her."

"Makaaaaaaaaa… CHOP!"

A book rose from Maka's thoughts and smashed across the unfortunate skull of Soul Evans, creating a dent with a shape very similar to that of a 700 page book spine. As the weapon fell backwards with a comical fountain of blood spurting out of his head, he mumbled something incoherent about the meister and her temper.

"Don't be so violent when you're talking next time!"

With momentary annoyance still fresh in her veins, the female leaned onto the piano, not expecting the sudden, harsh sound that erupted from it.

"Oh hey it worked this time," said soul was he climbed back on the chair (painfully, that is!).

"Maybe you have to play it with some sort of emotion?"

"Yeah, that makes sense."

With that in mind, Soul struck a few keys while summoning a relaxation into his mind. Surely enough, the notes began to play smoothly, and a low, slow tune rose.

"But I don't even know how to play the piano!" Maka moped.

"Well then don't! I can do it for you!"

"But it's my technique! What if we're fighting and for some reason I can't resonate with you? Then I'll die if I don't have something!"

Soul stiffened. He didn't like the sound of that at all. He held Maka by her shoulders and stared straight into olive-green.

"Maka…I'll ALWAYS be there to protect you, ALWAYS, you hear me? You are going to come back to safety in one piece every time because I WILL NOT allow anything to happen to my Maka, understand?!"

Color immediately rose to Maka's cheeks, and she turned her head in a miserably failed attempt to hide the massive blush that reached her neck. Squirming, she attempted to chop the idiot in front of her, but failed due to the fact that she couldn't help but be swayed to numbness by his words. The meister and weapon silently sat there after Soul finally realized what he just said.

"Uhhh…er…ahahaha…ha?" he stuttered, trying to act cool.

"Heheh…I think we should focus on the piano right now, eh?" Maka said, with an awkward smile on her face. Soul was too dazed at his meister's cute expression to register the question being asked. A blush crept on his face, too.

"Soul?"

"Oh—right! Yeah about that, maybe you should imagine yourself playing it? I mean it is your brain we're in."

"Sure. I guess we could try."

Slowly, he slouched back onto the bench and watched as the girl placed her hands on the keys and closed her eyes as imagination flooded into her.

"Just think about how I play…then replace me with yourself," Soul kindly instructed.

"Mhmm 'kay."

A piece sluggishly began to play, soft and gentle like a summer breeze. It soon began to pick up its pace, however, and turned into a lively capriccio, ricochetting Maka's fingers up and down the keys.

A large colorful screen appeared to the side, and the smooth display showed an unknown hand typing a word. As the meister played, her costume changed to that of a sundress, with pigtails that were tied with sky blue bell ribbons that rung along with her movements. As the piece drew to an end, the word on the screen displayed clearly the word 'Joy'. Maka sat back, panting.

"I know…heh…it's not the most appropriate emotion after we saw that crazy what's-her-name but somehow I felt inclined to…play it I guess."

Soul hadn't noticed that he had his jaw dropping to the black-and-white tiled floor this whole while. He coughed and closed his mouth, but was stilled stunned at the beautiful, although slightly short, music.

"That was…amazing Maka. Since when did you play so well?!"

"Er, well I guess I was just imagining it like you told me to so, uh, don't flatter me!"

Maka's arm found its way to the back of her head and she rubbed it sheepishly, and Soul found himself having a heated face once again thanks to his meister's cuteness.

Not like he will admit that…right?

When the duo spiraled back into reality, they found themselves no longer in resonance and…a very, or rather extremely, funny specimen. Six people, Professor Stein, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Patty, and Miss Marie, were in dance poses that were quite obviously from the sketch book of someone who doesn't know how.

Finally gaining back their bodies, various comments were made. The first one was said by a smirking, victorious scientist who said something about 'looks like it worked'. The second was Black Star:

"Wow! Me and these lame-os were just walkin' around and the Professor just started talking about this Soul Menace or whatever that you had! A second later we were dancing without thinking about it!"

"Indeed, it was very strange, we could think, that's for sure, but we were unable to control our own bodies. Is that your Soul Menace, Maka?" added Kid.

"Giraffe!" was the only comment made by Patty.

"Yeah…I guess? Professor Stein called it the Puppeteer nature," said Maka.

"Wow girl, impressive," exclaimed Liz, along with some compliments from Tsubaki and Miss Marie. Soon enough, the training area erupted into Black Star shouting about surpassing God and being God accompanied by a Soul who was clearly too proud of his meister for his own good, and wouldn't stop making 'cool' comments about the whole ordeal.

As the morning slipped onwards and cheery bunch rumbled on, Maka was the only one uneasy. When Soul asked her about it later, she couldn't respond, because she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Welp," Soul replied with his famous shark-toothed grin,"if you don't want to talk about, that's cool. But if you ever want to or if that crazy lady comes back to talk to you, just tell you gosh darn weapon about it, ok? The more brains the better, especially if you've got one as cool as mine."

Soul took Maka's hand as they began walking back home.

"Oh and Maka?"

"Yeah?"

"I meant what I said back in your brain. For you, I'll always be there, whenever, wherever."

Maka smiled. She knew that if her world came crumbling down on her someday, there was always going to be one ruby-eyed idiot of a cool guy she could depend on. Always, whenever, wherever.

"Yeah, thanks, Soul."

"For you, anything."

(4,145 words)

Alright, I'm done, so done, so tired, fudge balls. 4145 words raw. RAW!

Ok maybe not, I'm still gonna talk to you guys, because I'm a loner and I sit in my closet writing random shiz. Ok fine, maybe not. But still.

So I was gonna post this chapter yesterday, but do you know what I was doing instead of writing? I was reading SoMa fan fictions and looking, no, STARING OBSESSIVELY at SoMa fan art. (Ok, if you think that I was reading other people's fanfics so I could copy their ideas, stop right now. I'm not that type of person! That's just plain 'un-cool'!) A realization dawned on me, and I realized, in the middle of doing it, that there was suuuccchhhh as huge lack in, quote quote, 'my type' of SoMa fanfiction (y'know the ones with a buncha action but still has the strong romance aspects? the ones that are apparently so hard to find because their balanced between the two?) that I began to read other shipping fanfics with other characters and just replaced the main characters with "Maka" and "Soul". AND I was doing that unconscious of my actions. Creepy much?

Great, now I've succeeded in making myself feel like a retarded old cat lady or fish lady or dog lady or whatever chilling in an armchair in a closet being addicted to some random Japanese whatever. O.O But wait, what if I am...? I don't wanna think about it anymore.

Night peeps!

~Owl-chan


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